


Tamzin revisits Westling

by DaughterOfTheRains



Category: Monica Edwards
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 10:54:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1938228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaughterOfTheRains/pseuds/DaughterOfTheRains
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This features pony book characters, but it's not horsey and also a bit sad.<br/>Not complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tamzin revisits Westling

Tamzin Grey stood in front of her car on the small Westling river front, next to the Harbour mast. She stared across the river made low by the heat, thinking of all the adventures she had once had in the area. All her other old friends were still alive and well, but Rissa had recently died of breast cancer. After the long drive from Devon, and putting some flowers on the grave outside the boat-shaped church, she had come to this place where she had finally broken up with Meryon after meeting her later partner at university.  
They had not spoken again for decades after that, but he had recently contacted her on facebook and they had agreed to meet. The main reason she was here, though, was to clear out her parents' house. Tamzin's father had died aged 75 in 2000 of a stroke, her mother was still alive and surprisingly well at 93, but now living in a nursing home in Hythe, and not very mobile. Diccon had become a maths teacher and moved to New Zealand some years ago after getting fed up with all the paperwork in Britain. After a bad tractor accident, Dion had switched from arable to only dairy and limited meat farming etc in Cornwall. Tamzin and her family had considered buying Punchbowl Farm, jointly with Lindsey and her lesbian partner. Ultimately, however they had decided against it because did not wish to live in a house with such memories. So now Lindsey lived in Bristol and read the regional television news/presented a show on the local BBC radio station. Tamzin lived on the Exmoor coast, where her partner ran a vineyard and did quite a lot of web design as well. Somewhat like at Punchbowl farm in the past, her oldest boy did more limited farm management, partly due to modern regulations. She also lectured in Spanish at a local college. It was a very hot July Saturday, and her back was now dripping with sweat. The drunken argument on her 19th birthday had actually involved all four of the friends after their evening out went wrong. Afterwards only Rissa had remained close, like Lindsey. She also hadn't seen Roger for many years, but they had met up recently in Guildford and got on quite well.  
Nearby a young female black cat sat sunning herself, miaowing and purring amiably as Tamzin stroked.

She was staying in the house for quite a while in order to clear it out before trying to agree a sale, and didn't much like the idea of sleeping there alone. It had been shut up for some time so most of the curtains were drawn, the back garden looked parched in the dry spell and very unkempt. Inside it smelt rather musty. Tamzin opened some windows and turned the electricity on again. Then she went upstairs to her attic bedroom, it had long been converted to a spare bedroom, but the wallpaper, curtains and everything else was different, only the original bed remained. She opened the window and photographed the view across the marsh with her phone. In the bathroom were all the horse prints that used to hang on her wall, damaged by years of moisture. Having decided to do the sitting room first, she went in and turned on the television for background noise, something that had only arrived originally in 1971. Her father's desk mostly seemed to be filled with old church paperwork and very ordinary letters. Many of these had been written by Mrs Venus who had long been a notorious writer of poison pen gossip letters, until the vicar offered her the role of parish correspondent in September 1969. All the ones after that date were on church headed paper, and at first were quite ordinary. The later ones, however had in the envelopes increasingly intimate notes between her father and Mrs Venus. It was quite clear they had been having some sort of affair for many years. Tamzin was shocked, wondering if her mother had known about it and turned a blind eye.  
Next she found her school reports. Perhaps because she had both done a lot of riding and been a fairly keen netball player, some of them were less than perfect. Even though she had been a prefect, got into university and done quite well. Indeed before that quite often got fed up of the close atmosphere of the village and its downsides.

Mother's desk was next. One of her father's less positive qualities had been his unwillingness to look at household bills or bank statements, there were a lot of those, also many ordinary letters from other family members. Then she suddenly found a death certificate dated July, 1952. Emma Alice Grey had died of drowning aged six. Then there was a letter from the coroner stating a verdict of accidental death, but no other information. So she almost had a sister, that explained why the other attic bedroom had never been used as Diccon's bedroom. Presumably Tam’s middle name Alice was also not just after her aunt. Tamzin wondered just what happened, felt some tears, and wished perhaps that Diccon was there to help and see such revelations first-hand. Though he might have been intrusive too. He had clearly wanted to come, but couldn’t do such a long, expensive flight. It was still hours before she was to meet Meryon so she went into the kitchen to make some black filter coffee, really disliking instant. The kitchen was now extremely shabby and smelt of mould. She opened the cupboards, to be met by rotting food packets, some dated back years and moth/maggot infestation. The appliances were ancient as well, she turned on the kettle with some trepidation. Just as it fortunately boiled properly, there was the sound of the catflap and miaowing. It was the black cat again, looked too sleek and well-fed to be a stray. Of course the original siamese cats were long gone, her mother's dainty female tortoiseshell and hefty black tom had moved with her. 

The cat followed her as she took her coffee and some lemonade to sit down on the comfortable old sofa again, watching an extended news report about climate change. It sat down for a while on the sofa until the programme was finished. Then it began some pawing and kneading at Tamzin before jumping down. Wanting to know what the cat was up to, she followed it out of the room and up to the attic again. It began scratching at the door of the other bedroom. This room had the same floral wallpaper her room originally did and was entirely bare floorboards. There was a lot of junk and a somehow gloomy atmosphere. The animal then scratched at a pile of cushions, so she lifted them up. Here under the window, by the skirting board was a loose floorboard and a hole. Lifting it up, Tamzin found a pillowcase containing an old-fashioned baby's rattle, a dummy, a stuffed owl, and the order of service from Emma's christening at the church. She presumed her mother had perhaps put the things there to be found someday and once again felt rather sad. She would try and get her mother to talk about it. Given the feeling of the room, Tamzin decided to bring a radio for background noise before trying to clear it out. The cat miaowed again and didn’t really seem to like it either, she was glad to go back downstairs to the television. Then it settled down to sleep on the sofa while Tamzin changed the bedclothes in her room with some ancient ones left in the linen cupboard and unpacked her things. Unlike the other room, it still at least had a good atmosphere after so many years. When she went downstairs again, the cat was hanging about the empty bowls that remained in the kitchen. She needed to go to the shop anyway, so could buy some cat biscuits.

The sun was really strong now as she walked through the garden and out of the gate at the end, past the house on the site of the tennis court, the cat following closely. The shop was quite different from the grocers that had once been run there by the depressive Mr Goldeye, nicknamed Smiling Morn. It was run by a Polish family and in an effort to compete with the new Tesco nearby, had become a cafe as well. Tamzin bought a few supplies and a croissant, and chatted to the shopkeeper. There was a largish female silver tabby cat asleep on the counter who was apparently now too old to go outside much. This was Emma, who pricked up her ears as Tamzin approached. The black was called Lottie, and had been one of her last kittens a few years ago. She liked to roam widely, the man only requested that Tam should not give her wet catfood. Back in the vicarage garden, she lay back on the brown grass for a bit while Lottie sought mice in the undergrowth. A text from Meryon came and she confirmed their meeting but the whole afternoon was still ahead of her. 

So Tamzin decided to look at the cellar. There was a lot of damp, old wood planks, rotten bridles, more junk, a strong smell of mildew. The very old-fashioned fuse box made her wonder how old the wiring was but she was pleased to find a box containing her old pony books, horsey magazines, and school stories. Just as she bent down to look at it, the lights suddenly went out and a very high-pitched baby-like wailing began. She ran up the steps and it eventually stopped after a few minutes. Shaken, she found a lantern and some fuse wire in the expected drawer and managed to get the power on again. The cat rubbed against her legs and let her stomach be stroked. A teenage girl rode an Exmoor pony along the village street, something Tamzin rarely did now because it required a lot of agility. Then she decided to have a swim at the nearby beach, before starting on the kitchen cupboards. It was quite crowded with tourists but the sea was very nice. After getting out and before changing, she was surprised to be greeted by a thin round-faced woman with a grey ponytail, in a floral swimming costume. 

"You must be Tamzin Grey"

"Jennifer Deeprose?"

Tamzin tried hard to look friendly because Jennifer had been rather a bully at school, sometimes targeting Rissa and some other girls who were too successful at work/sport for her or not interested enough in boys, fashion and so on.  
Jenny had tried it on with Tamzin too, but largely unsuccessfully, partly because before being deputy head girl, she had been elected a form prefect in some years. 

"Seeing you again after this time! What brings you here then?"

"I live in North Devon, but staying here for some time to clear out my parents' house.  
How are you?"

"Oh I'm ok thanks. Still live in Dunsford with my family. Why not get an ice cream, such lovely weather"

"Good idea"

They went to the kiosk, sat down on a blanket on the sand, and put some sun cream on.

"How are your school friends doing now?"

"Oh, Rissa's died recently (breast cancer), miss her. Lindsey and Roger are fine. Havn't heard from Meryon for years, but should be meeting him this evening actually. Emily is ok as well, she lives in Norwich. Diccon lives in New Zealand, my dad is dead, mum extremely old now"

"My parents are both dead. I've long lost touch with all but one of my school friends, Gwen Fletcher. She lives in Tenby in Wales"

"Oh right, Roger lives near there"

Jennifer suddenly looked rather embarassed and awkward.

"Oh by the way, I'm sorry about my bullying behaviour with Rissa and others at school. She was clever and an excellent rider whereas horses always scared me a bit. Though I still borrow my daughter's pony occasionally, but it's not physically easy anymore"

"That's alright, I'm not much of a rider now either. Oh, incidentally, do you know if Mrs Venus is still alive? I've found some weird evidence in the house that must have been totally hushed up. My dad appears to have had an affair with her in the 1970s, I also had a sister who sadly died before I was born"

"How incredible. Yes she ran an organic vegetable shop in Winklesea for many years. She's in a home now, and increasingly at risk of dementia, would still be glad to see you though"

"Could you give me the address then?"

"Yes I can facebook message you it if that's ok"

"I'll add you as a friend then. Perhaps we can chat a bit more anyway"

"OK, see you later"

Tamzin drove home.  
Lottie the cat was basking and panting at the front of the house, Mrs Grey had unusually installed front and back flaps. She looked very lethargic, but cats do like hot weather.  
The grandfather clock in the hall had long since stopped at midday. Tamzin looked at her phone and wound it to the correct time, it began ticking again. It was 4pm now and there was a facebook notification from Jenny, also a text from Meryon to confirm their meeting. Her mother had only installed dial-up internet, though she had broadband now. Tammy had brought an old router and arranged some temporary access. She spent some time trying to configure it with her laptop, which proved far from simple but it eventually worked and she posted a facebook status. The cat left about 5.30, presumably for her dinner and Tamzin got ready for the evening.  
She was quite anxious about seeing Meryon after so many years, her sweating wasn't only because of the heat. Eventually heading out, it was now relatively cool. The William The Conqueror looked almost the same from the outside, he was sitting at a bench with a large coke.

"Long time no see"

"Indeed, how are you doing now?"

"I'm ok, you? How come you're only drinking coke?"

"Oh, I was always a heavy drinker but it eventually got to the point where I narrowly avoided a liver transplant. It took me ages to get over the need for booze though it's ok now."

"That's a shame"

Tamzin went inside, it was also quite little changed, just a lot cleaner, no cigarette smell. The youngish boy behind the bar still had a moderate Sussex accent as she bought a pint of bitter.

"You always liked bitter, do you remember pouring it all over me, are you sorry about all that?"

"I'm sorry if it upset you Meryon. After Roger went to study engineering at university, he met someone else. I obviously had a major argument with Rissa that night as well. Nonetheless, Rissa and me were friends for many years, Roger was apparently reconciled with Rissa before her death as well. He's married happily enough now."

"That's good to hear"

"Do you have a wife or anything?"

"Well yes Tamzin. I've been married twice with ultimate failure. Do have two daughters from the second one, but she won't allow me to see them, the authorities back her up"

"What's her problem?"

"I think she basically got really pissed off with my alcholism. Once I tried to put Olivia to bed and dropped her! Fortunately it was only on the soft mattress, but my wife was understandbly furious. Also crashed the car into the kerb"

"Not very sensible"

"No, I was banned from driving for months after that, also got into trouble with the medical authorities for accidentally prescribing the wrong antibiotics to someone. Now I sell herbal remedies or anything really online, do some aromatherapy on the side"

"Gosh, you used to be so upright, though it was foolish to challenge the Dunsford bank raiders"

"I regret it now, that whole episode was horrendous. Going blind, dashing to Spain and so on"

"I found it pretty stressful, it's sad that your aunt and uncle had to die in order to save your sight. At least you're still around though"

"Spain is a nice country, I went to Valencia last year"

"Yes I've been back there, it was interesting to explore Barcelona more. But the best place I visited was Samothrace. It's a Greek island, remote  
and quite wild"

Lottie the cat went past on her evening patrol along the riverfront.

"That animal is keeping me company at home for the duration, she belongs to the local grocer. The old siameses were nice, but moggies are better really"

"I’ve got a usually friendly brown male tabby. Also keep tropical fish in a tank"

"Oh good. Do you remember how Lindsey’s attempts at peacemaking failed, she ran off towards the sea, then home to sleep on my sofa?"

"Ooh yes, I only met her once or twice, did seem lesbian-oriented"

"She really liked horses and the natural environment, even more than me. Though even Dion mellowed somewhat towards nature after the tractor accident, allowed one or two wild fields"

"I revisited Punchbowl farm once alone, had a walk around. Nice countryside"

"It is though I prefer the coast, you may remember the very old farmhouse nearly burnt down in the late 1960s. Thankfully the fire brigade put the brush fire out"

"Yes I heard about that"

At that moment, Tamzin’s glass fell off the table, spilling part of her drink, an invisible shriek of glee was heard. Fortunately the tough glass did'nt break, but she was annoyed  
and went to replace her drink.

"That must have been Emma"

"What?"

"The sister who I should have had, drowned. Only found out recently when going through papers that she died before I was born, quite tragic"

"Oh no"

"Hope my mother will be willing to explain how it happened"

It was still fairly warm, now completely dark. The river looked especially pitch-black.  
They went inside together to get another drink, a very downbeat 1990s song was now playing. She got a stronger beer, he a bitter lemon.

"Do you want to find her grave?"

"Yes, another thing to investigate. My Dad is buried in the local graveyard, but a prematurely dead girl there would presumably have been too obvious"

"Indeed, I remember burying Burma the cat in the garden. She lived for 20 years, until 1980. We left a memorial, after the sale told the new owners of the house"

"Ours were just put down by the vet, they got ear cancer after 16 years. Perhaps my current moggies are somewhat less disease-prone"

"I hope so, my black tom does'nt spray and seems healthy enough"

"Where do you actually live now?"

"In a rented room in a victorian house in Hastings. It’s ok but slightly dodgy, it's a somewhat deprived town with a few druggies, not too bad though"

A motorbike swept along the road, leaving a trail of dust behind it.

"Do you remember the Dolphin?"

Tamzin then went to get another drink before the pub closed.

"God yes, so much fast driving really took it out of me. Nearly ran into others several times and got fined for speeding"

"A similar dolphin entered our local beach for a while a few years ago. She played with balls and so on before leaving, oddly didn't seem to have a partner. Anyway, have you ever read any pony books?"

"I quite liked some"

"I always liked boarding school stories as well, not sure I'd have wanted to be a boarder though"

"Never read any of those, me neither"

They talked a bit longer, by now Tamzin was rather drunk, Meryon still completely sober. She got a vodka and coke, they chatted a bit more, then it was time to go home.  
Meryon's car was an old Lada Niva which he had apparently restored from a rustbucket.  
After he left, the village seemed slightly more sinister. It was dark and silent, no-one was about.  
She again wondered where Emma's grave was located. Lottie was killing an unfortunate mouse near the Martello tower.

The Tamarisks at the front of the house were in very poor condition now, but they looked somewhat creepy in the dark. Tamzin stumbled up the path, opened the  
door. Turning the lights on and off, she filled some mugs of water from the kitchen tap. Then staggered upstairs to bed, fell asleep almost immediately, dreaming  
about the horrors of rescuing the horses from the slaughter ship, saving the castle from being turned into a holiday camp, and giving Jennifer lines at school. When she woke with an awful hangover, it was 12 o'clock and the sun was hot again. Tamzin ran a coldish  
bath and washed thoroughly before going downstairs for a slice of toast and coffee. 

While consuming the latter in the sitting room in front of the television, Lottie again jumped onto her knee for a while. Eventually Tam removed her and went to the kitchen  
to wash up and give the cat some more biscuits. Unfortunately even this was not without incident. As she walked along the passage, the mug flew out of her hands and smashed. The dishcloth used to dry the (remaining)  
plate showed a view of Bodiam castle in East Sussex. She had once called it Lucy, remembering her long-abandoned and embarassing habit of giving everything a name, even a toothbrush.  
When Jennifer had been called before the prefects at school for an attack on Rissa in the washroom, Tamzin had inappropriately referred to her as Jenny.  
Why was Emma's ghost now so hostile, she would have to find out. Disregarding suncream as usual, she took some ribena and fizzy water out into the sun before deciding what to do next. 

Lottie rolled on the lawn and purred while Tam stroked her stomach. Remembering the broken mug, she went back and swept it up. On returning to the garden, a hostile-looking grey male cat  
was facing up to a hissing Lottie and whining loudly. It only left, jumping over the low wall like a pony, when Tamzin kicked it. 

"Oh Lottie, pusscat"

The animal rubbed itself against her feet.  
The house's landline, whence Rissa had made her heroic phone call, had been disconnected when Tamzin's mother moved out and reconnection for such a relatively short period wasn't viable.  
Fortunately the flat landscape had a fairly good mobile signal, and she was soon connected.

"Is that you, Tam?"

"Yes, mother"

"What is it?"

"I've just discovered two things that you really should have told me about. That my sister Emma somehow died in infancy, and dad appears to have had an affair with Mrs Venus"

Tamzin heard crying through her phone.

"Oh yes Pat Venus lives here too. I'm sorry, we really need to meet so I can explain everything. Bye for now"

"I'll pop in sometime, bye"


End file.
